


Golden Prison

by awhitehead17



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Red Robin (Comics), Superboy (Comics), Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst, Fluff, High School, M/M, Slow Burn, This was a lot of fun to write, Tumblr Prompt, haemophilia, injuries, it goes as well as expected, oh well, over protective family, summary sounds cliche, that's because it kinda is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-10-17 17:27:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17564861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awhitehead17/pseuds/awhitehead17
Summary: Tim’s not like any other teen his age simply because he suffers with haemophilia, a genetic disorder that affects the blood’s ability to clot. So having the same routine of being home schooled and staying within the grounds of the Manor everyday Tim didn't think much of it, that is until he met Conner Kent. His life changes when Conner shows him what it's like to be a normal teenager.





	Golden Prison

**Author's Note:**

> Hey so this came from tumblr as answer for a prompt by wolferetic. the prompt was: Hello! I have this idea for a prompt, which I hope will interest you! TimKon, AU, no capes: Tim suffers from Haemophilia, his family (Batfamily) for this reason they make him live in a "golden prison", because they are afraid that their baby bro can get hurt. But Tim is now 16, and he is in love with handsome Conner Kent. Will he run away from home for a normal teen date, and keep his pathology secret to Conner? 
> 
> Enjoy! :D

Tim’s not like any other teen his age simply because he suffers with haemophilia, a genetic disorder that affects the blood’s ability to clot. He knows that he had inherited it from his mother and as it’s genetic there’s not much he could do about it. It doesn’t impact his day to day life thankfully but the only real time it makes it self-known is if he cuts himself because since his blood cannot clot itself he’s at a higher risk of bleeding out. Since his adoptive family found about this genetic disorder they’ve taken it upon themselves to take care of him and make sure he doesn’t get cut anywhere, so they’re extremely over-protective of him.

Bruce didn’t want him really going anywhere where he couldn’t keep an eye on Tim so being home-schooled solved that problem, Tim didn’t have a problem with it because before he was adopted by Bruce his parents had him home schooled for the same reason, it was just normal for him. So besides the occasional outing with his family or some sort of gala Tim didn’t really leave the safety of the Manor. He was pretty content with that, he had his siblings, he had his online pals who he played video games with, so what more did he need.

At least he thought like that for a good 16 years until he met a boy called Conner Kent.

The first time he met Conner Kent was at an interview. His dad, the famous journalist Clark Kent, had organised an interview with his adoptive dad, Bruce Wayne, on a recent project that his company Wayne Enterprises has launched. Tim was at the interview because Bruce had asked him to be there, he had helped a significant amount on the project and his dad wanted him to talk about what he contributed to it. Conner was there at the interview because Clark wanted him to start getting experience in the working world and what he did as a career.

As the interview went by Tim couldn’t stop looking at Conner. He was handsome that was for sure. He had short thick black hair, a solid jaw line, piercing blue eyes, clear skin and straight white teeth (which Tim got to see every time he smiled). Conner was wearing a smart light grey button up shirt, smart black trousers and a pair of black dress shoes. The shirt stretched across broad shoulders and outlined every muscles the teen was packing.

Tim had to look away before Conner noticed him staring but as fate would have it they did make eye contact a few times throughout the interview as their dads talked to one another, it turns out they’re old friends. Tim couldn’t help the blush that ran across his face when he once caught Conner staring at him.

When the interview finished he and Bruce waved goodbye to Clark and Conner from the Manor (they had come over to their house for the interview) and watched as they disappeared from view. If Tim’s being honest, he definitely thought that was going to be the last time he would see Conner and that thought disappointed him, after all the other teen was outrageously gorgeous and he really wouldn’t mind the opportunity to get to know him.

However that wouldn’t be the last time Tim sees Conner because the second time he meets Conner Kent was at a charity gala based in the heart of Gotham City weeks after the interview. For once the whole Wayne family attended this gala, so that meant Tim’s adoptive dad and all of his adoptive siblings. During the event Tim’s brothers stayed close by him, often flanking him so they could control what goes near him and doesn’t. Tim doesn’t mind that much, of course he knows that it’s a little over the top but he allows it because he knows they all worry about him. It also doesn’t help that they’re out in the middle of Gotham, being in the city itself just naturally heightens their protectiveness over him because literally anything could happen.  

The gala was going fine but time seemed to be dragging, however the incredible variety of food made up for it. It was when Tim had managed to escape his brothers and go over to the food so he could help himself to the spread that he bumped into the other teen. Tim nearly dropped his plate at the sight of Conner because this time he was wearing a tux with a tie. The suit just made Conner look way more mature, it made his facial features more prominent and it did wonders for his figure.

Despite looking absolutely pleasing to the eye, Tim could make out that the other teen was stiff and awkward in the suit. As a joke he made a comment about it to Conner. Thankfully Conner took his joke in stride, he even made a comment back about how he was way to at ease wearing a monkey suit.

From there Tim just spent the rest of the time at the gala talking to Conner. Now that they were both able to speak freely to one another Tim learnt a lot about the other teen like he had originally wanted to. Since he was now enjoying himself time seemed to go much quicker and before he knew his brothers were at his side ready to take him home.

When in the car on the way back to the Manor Tim gets his phone out and looks at Conner’s phone number in his contacts. They had exchanged numbers half way through the night so they could keep in contact. Conner had originally asked Tim what school he attends to and Tim had to explain that he was home schooled. Of course Conner questioned it and Tim just answered with that was how he was raised before Bruce adopted him and how Bruce didn’t want to make Tim uncomfortable by making him go to a public school so he decided to keep things the way Tim was used to.

Tim didn’t tell Conner the real reason to why he was home schooled because he and his family have worked hard to keeping Tim’s medical condition out of the paper and out of the public eye. He doesn’t know Conner well enough to trust him with something that big, he’s a reporters son so he could easily say anything to his dad and then Clark could easily put something in the paper that will bust Tim. He’s sure that Clark wouldn’t do that to him but you can never be too sure and Tim isn’t willing to take the risk.

Tim closed his phone when they reached the Manor and he didn’t look at it again until the next morning when he woke up with one unread message from Conner, he was complaining about how he was already missing the luxurious food from the gala. Tim replied with laughing faces and then a picture of his breakfast which Alfred had made that replicated the food at the gala. He wasn’t showing off, okay maybe he was but it was just as a joke, he told Conner that next time he comes over to the Manor he can have something made up for him.

As the weeks went by Tim found that talking to Conner just became part of his daily routine, even at this current moment nearly three months after the gala he was still talking to Conner. They haven’t met face to face since that night of the gala but they often skype one another so Tim didn’t go all that time without seeing that precious face.

By now Tim knows he’s crushing hard for Conner. Just by the first two meetings Tim knew he was attracted to the other teen, however over time as Tim talked to him he got to know Conner and that caused him to end up liking him, and before he knew it he had a hard crush on Conner.

Conner was kind, caring and sweet and Tim just loved that. He loves the way Conner speaks about his grandparents or about his time when he works on their farm (Conner claims to hate it but Tim can see that he doesn’t really mean it). Tim has to work hard when they’re skyping to not sit there and just smile at him in a dopey fashion.

It’s at this point, three months into their friendship, that Tim realises that Conner has changed his life. Until he met Conner he wasn’t too fussed about going out on trips to other states, or going to watch a football game, or going to and sitting in a café to share a pizza. It wasn’t until Conner was showing him these things that he does with his other friends that Tim realises that he’s really been missing out on a normal teenagers life. Yeah okay, he has his brothers and they go out and do fun things together but it isn’t the same as doing those things with a group of your own friends your own age.

It wasn’t until he met Conner that he realised how closed off he actually is. The Manor has been his home since he a young kid and he greatly appreciates Bruce and his brothers for everything they do for him but it’s making him realise that he doesn’t have the freedom that Conner has.

Tim’s not complaining about his life, he really isn’t because he’s so lucky that Bruce is who he is. Tim doesn’t have to worry about any finances, any medical bills, if he has enough pocket money to grab the latest x-box game, whether he has enough cash to afford a concert ticket he really wants. Tim could literally just ask Bruce for whatever he wanted and his adoptive father would be able to get it for him. There’s been a few times where Conner has joked about that it must be nice to be rich, Tim just jokes back saying that it certainly has its benefits.

Tim may be rich but he doesn’t have freedom.

He’s been cooped up in the Manor for most of his life because of his medical condition he had inherited from his mother. Suffering with haemophilia just makes him and his family extremely cautious to what could potentially happen to Tim if he got so much as a cut.

Tim remembers one time when he was around 10 years old, he and Jason were wrestling and Tim accidently banged his head on the table quite hard. He remembers that Bruce nearly had a panic attack when he found out and rushed Tim to the hospital so they could check him over just to be sure that he wasn’t suffering with bleeding into the brain. It’s easy to say that was the last day any of his brothers wrestled with him.

At this particular moment Tim’s in his bedroom on his bed and on his phone. Conner had just sent him some photos of what he was doing that evening. It was Friday and Conner was currently at one of his friend’s who’s hosting a house party. Despite not knowing this person Conner had invited Tim along as his plus one, Tim felt greatly honoured that Conner wanted him to go with him but unfortunately he had no other choice but to decline the invitation. By his texts Conner seemed gutted that Tim couldn’t go but Tim told him to go and have fun.

Conner had sent him a video of his ginger friend, Bart Tim believes he’s called, doing three shots all in a row. There’s another video and that one was of Conner dancing badly to some music blasting in the background.

Tim smiles sadly at the photos being sent to him. He now wishes he had gone, but the only way he would have been allowed to go is if one of his brothers went him. That’s kind of the rule, if Tim goes out he basically has to have an escort (another thing he’s only really just realised about how trapped he is in his own life).

The more he thinks about it the more depressed he feels. If he really analyses it he can actually say that Conner is his first proper friend (maybe that’s the reason he’s so attracted to him). Of course Tim has other friends, he’s got his online buddies but he can’t really call them his proper friends because he’s never met them face to face. Then there’s all of his sibling’s friends that he knows, Dick’s current girlfriend Barbara, Jason’s friend Roy, Damian’s friend Colin, Cass’s friend Stephanie and so many more. It makes him realise that he doesn’t have any friends his own age, Stephanie is probably the closet to his age and even she’s a year or two older than him.

In the end Tim turns off his phone and ignores Conner’s messages for the rest of the night. It’s petty that he’s wrapped up in jealousy but he couldn’t help it. It wasn’t fair on how freely Conner got to live his life while Tim was cooped up in some sort of golden prison because of a stupid medical condition he has which has no cure, only medicines to try and ease it.

* * *

A week later Tim was once again texting Conner, they were just going on about nonsense at this point but Tim didn’t care, he just finds it really amusing. However his amusement soon dies when Conner’s next message came through:

_Do you fancy meeting up sometime next week for a coffee somewhere?_

Without really thinking about it Tim typed out: _Sorry I can’t._

However he didn’t send it. He found himself hovering over the enter button. Tim thinks it through, this would be the fifth time Conner’s asked him to meet up with him to do something in the three months they’ve been talking and every time so far Tim has declined him. Tim knows that if he keeps declining him then Conner would get the message that Tim doesn’t want to meet up with him and Conner may take that as a rejection on their friendship which Tim doesn’t want at all.

He really does want to meet up with Conner more than anything in the world at this point but it’s just his family are getting in the way of that. If Tim goes out then one of his brothers would tag along and he assumes that Conner wouldn’t really want one of Tim’s brother’s hanging around with them. Hell, Tim doesn’t even want that. He still hasn’t told Conner about his condition. At this point he knows he can trust him, Tim’s come to think Conner as his best friend, but he has no idea on how he should tell him.

Tim looks at Conner’s message again before deciding fuck it. He deletes his message to type a new one, this one saying: _Sure. When do you want to meet?_

This time Tim doesn’t hesitate to send the message. It’s only when it says that it’s been delivered that he starts to panic. How the hell is this going to work? How’s he going to sneak out of the Manor without anyone knowing? What has he done?

Tim carries on freaking out until Conner’s next message comes through. _How about Tuesday if you’re free? I don’t have school and I know a cool café that does a mean latte._

Tim couldn’t help but laugh at his choice of words. Pushing his panic to the side for a moment Tim types back. _Sounds awesome, what time?_

Right Tuesday, that’s four days away. Tim should be able to come up with a plan to escape home for a few hours. Hopefully. Oh god what if he doesn’t plan it right? What if someone catches him leaving? God what are they going to do to Conner? What will they do to him?

Tim’s brought out of his panic yet again by his phone binging. _I’ll come and pick you up say around 11. That cool?_

Tim takes a moment to breathe and get himself together. Okay so he has a date and a time, at least he can plan more effectively with that information.

_That’s fine, see you then._

_Awesome, looking forward to it._

They say their goodbyes before they stop chatting to another. Tim looks through their conversation again. Is it a date? Did Conner ask him out on a date and he agreed to it? Oh god what was he thinking!?

Tim realises that he’s starting to panic again and he forces himself to go through a few breathing exercises to calm himself down before he has a panic attack or something.

He has date (not date?) with Conner. He’s going for coffee with Conner Kent. A person who he has been crushing hard for since he first meet him. No, this is good. Tim hasn’t been on a date before. That’s what normal teens do right? This is a chance to get to experience what a real teen does.

Even if it wasn’t a date (not that Tim was going to say anything about whether it was a date or not to Conner anyway) he’s still meeting up with a friend and hanging out. That’s what normal teenagers do, they go out and hang with friends.

Later that night Tim couldn’t stop grinning at ceiling as he lies in bed. He told himself to worry about everything else that he needs to plan for tomorrow because for now he’s just going indulge in the fact that he’s meeting up with someone next week.

* * *

Tim’s panicking.

It’s an hour until Conner picks him up and there’s still one more family member that Tim needs to deal with before he could go out without anyone knowing. Jason is still around the Manor and Tim is desperately trying to come up with a way to get past Jason but his mind keeps coming up blank with ideas that would actually work.

It seemed that nature was on his side up until Jason because everyone else has already left the Manor and won’t be back until this evening. Damian and Alfred have gone to a museum for the day with Damian’s school, there’s a special British history section in the museum that they’re going to, Damian invited Alfred along to see it and Alfred appreciatively accepted the invitation. Bruce was at Wayne Enterprises for the day and won’t be back until late. Dick was over in Bludhaven, so that was no problem, unless his eldest brother decided to stop by for a surprise visit but Tim isn’t going to think about that.

But there’s Jason. What is Tim going to do about him?

Tim looks at his phone to find that it’s now 50 minutes until Conner comes and picks him up. He’s still got to get ready yet! He’s had a shower but he hasn’t gotten changed yet because if Jason sees him dressed all nice then he’s going to ask questions and in this state Tim’s not entirely sure he’ll be able to lie to his brother. So he’s stayed in his lounging clothes until Jason somehow disappears.

40 minutes now and Tim’s mind is still blank.

30 minutes and Conner sent a text that he’s just leaving his house to come and pick Tim up.

25 minutes and Tim’s just prepared to give up and tell Jason what he has planned. Who knows maybe having a family member who knows what he’s up to could give him an edge to make sure no one else finds out. Jason would support him… maybe?

While dying of distress over his situation Tim didn’t even hear the door knock to his room. He shoots up right in a sitting position when he hears Jason’s “Oi, Baby bird.” Tim looks over to find Jason standing there in his doorway looking into his bedroom.

Tim does his best to smile, “What’s up Jay?”

Jason looks conflicted, “Look I hate to do this but I gotta leave the Manor for a few hours. Works called and they want me in, apparently their overloaded with work and need extra hands.”

Tim takes a minute to respond because did he really hear Jason right then? Did Jason just say that he needs to go to work for a few hours?

“Tim?”

“Yeah! That’s fine, I’ll be fine.” He says quickly, maybe a little bit too quickly because Jason is raising an eyebrow at him for his behaviour. “Just out of curiosity, how long will you be gone?”

Jason shrugs, “No idea, but Bruce will probably be back before me, so will you be alright on your own until Alfred and the demon get back?”

“Yeah perfectly fine. I’m 16 Jason, I can look after myself.”

Jason laughs, “Sure, sure. Whatever you say Timbo. Anyway, I’ll catch you later.”

His brother leaves his room and Tim impatiently waits on his bed for the sound of the front door shutting to indicate Jason leaving. Once it shuts Tim leaps off his bed and runs to the other side of the Manor to peak out of the window, he’s just in time to see Jason’s car speeding off out of the grounds. After that Tim is like a whirl wind in getting ready.

He runs back to his room and starts putting on the outfit he had chosen to wear and takes a small bit of time to do his hair. Once that was done he’s getting a message from Conner telling him he’s out the front. Taking a deep breath to settle the butterflies in his stomach Tim grabs his wallet and heads out the Manor to find Conner there in his car smiling at him with those perfect white teeth.

Tim climbs in the car and Conner starts driving away.

“Hey.”

“Hey yourself.”

They share a smile and Tim’s butterflies flutter even more in his stomach.

“You okay Tim, you seem kinda flushed.”

At that Tim feels his face grow hot, “Uh yeah… I’m fine, just… a little hot that’s all. It’s really warm in the Manor for some reason.” He lies to Conner, he plasters on a smile to make it seem more real.

Conner takes the lie and lets out a laugh, “Alright then. Guess you rich folks don’t have to worry about heating bills.”

“Quite frankly I don’t have to worry about any bills.” Tim jokes easily, it’s true of course but he knows Conner knows that he’s only joking around. It’s become their thing now.

Conner lets out a snort, “That’s alright for some.”

Tim shrugs and laughs.

It’s silent between them until they hit the heart of the city. Conner glances at him before looking back at the road, “You know dude it’s good to see you without a computer screen in the way. It’s been way too long since we last saw each other in person.”

Tim nods agreeing with that, though he can’t help but feel guilty, “Yeah it’s been too long, but hey here we are now.” He says lightly.

Conner chuckles, “I guess so. Anyway, here we are, the café is just around the corner.”

Conner parks up the car and they head over to the café Conner had been on about. While walking over there Tim tries to not let his paranoia show through, he tries to not look over his shoulder every few seconds and he tries to not constantly check his phone for any angry messages that might come through. Of course he’s aware of potential reporters being around but those he’s used to, it’s everything else that’s making him nervous.

They get to the café and take some seats near the back just out of the way from everyone. Tim doesn’t mind, it’s perfectly fine because he’s alone with Conner and they get some sort of privacy. The café was small but had a homey feel to it. At least he felt comfortable in the seats and he was sat where he could easily see everyone. This is fine.

Soon enough they go order. Well Conner orders for them, all Tim had to do was tell him what he wanted. He tried to give Conner the money for it but the other teen refused and said that he’ll pay for it. This prevented them ordering for at least 10 minutes until Tim finally relented and allowed Conner to buy his drink for him.

Conner came back to the table with two steaming cups of coffee in each hand. He gave Tim his before sitting down opposite him. Taking care Tim had a sip of his coffee and was immediately in love. It tasted so good!

Conner was smirking in front of him, “Did I tell you it was good or what.”

Tim nods, “Oh yeah definitely. Mmmm, that’s good.”

From there they fall into easy conversation and Tim loves every moment of it. If you saw them together Tim is willing to bet that people would most likely think that they’ve been friends for years rather than a couple of months.

Tim watches Conner in wonder as he talks. He takes notes of all the little changes that has happened to Conner since they last saw each other in person. Conner was slightly taller than before, slightly bigger in size too, not in the fat way but the muscular way. Tim chalks it up to him being on the farm some weekends, farm work has really done his body wonders. His hair is a little longer too but his eyes have stayed the same. They’re still that piercing blue that Tim first saw when they first met.

Time flies by and Tim’s devastated to find that a few hours have gone when he checks his phone. He hates the idea of leaving the café and going home where there’s nothing really there, more importantly he hates the idea of leaving Conner. Either way he knows that if he wants to see Conner again, leaving now will ensure that he’ll be able to in the future.

Tim tells Conner that he needs go and Tim sees Conner deflate with the news. The action from the other teen makes his heart pound away in his chest, does that mean Conner doesn’t want to leave either? Does it mean that he was having as good time like Tim was? Of course Conner accepts it that he needs to go and the two of them finish up their drinks (it’s like their fourth drink at this point. Tim had also gotten his way and paid for two of the drinks just so Conner wasn’t paying it all) and head out of the café.

The ride back was again full of their chatter and laughter and in Tim’s opinion it ended to soon. Conner’s pulls to a stop outside of the Manor. He turns off the car and looks at Tim, “Well good sir, this is the end of our journey. It has been good traveling with you and until next time.” He says with a fake accent.

Tim blinks at him for a moment before smacking him on the shoulder, “Shut up you dork,” he laughs. He unbuckles his seat belt and starts to get out of the car.

“Hey Tim.” Conner’s call makes him pause, he turns to look at the other teen, “Thanks for today, I had fun.”

Tim smiles, “No need to thank me and anyway, thank _you_ for today. I had fun as well.”

“If you want to maybe we could do it again some time.”

Tim stops himself from answering right away. Sneaking out is a one-time thing, _should_ be a one-time thing. But he had so much fun with Conner today that he really didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to do it again, especially since he’s asking for them to do it _again_.

Despite himself Tim nods and sends Conner a smile, “Absolutely. Just let me know when you’re free and we’ll see if we can work something out.”

Conner grins back, “Sure thing.”

Tim smiles one last time before shutting the car door. He turns and starts going up the steps, as he nears the top Conner starts the car and begins to drive leaving Tim waving to him from the front door of the Manor.

Tim watches Conner drive away until he couldn’t see him anymore, that’s when he finally enters his home. Tim’s paranoia kicks back in immediately. What if someone came home when he was out? What if they’re just waiting for him to return so then they could grill him? Tim quickly does a sweep of the house to see if anyone was in fact home, when he finds no one he lets out a sigh in relief and heads up to his room.

His mind was still whirling and Tim couldn’t keep the grin off his face as he thinks back through the last couple of hours. That was what normal teens do and Tim wants more of it. He really enjoyed his time with Conner, just seeing the other teen in person again simply made him smile let alone a few hours.

Eventually Tim settles down on his bed with his laptop open on Netflix. He’s changed from the outfit he went out in to the outfit he had on earlier, that way it makes it even less suspicious that he’s actually done anything that day.

He’s halfway through an episode of a show he was watching when he hears a shout, “I’m back!”

Tim blinks at his closed bedroom door in surprise, he hadn’t expected Jason to be back so soon. His eyes widen in realisation, he’s only been home for about 45 minutes. That was close. Too close, god Tim couldn’t believe it. It may seem like a really long time but that’s still a lot closer than what he’s comfortable with. All he has to do now is play it off cool when Jason pops into his room, then he’s home free.

Sure enough a few seconds later there was a knock at his door followed by it opening and a voice, “Hey Timbo, you here?”

Jason’s head pops through and looks at him. Tim doesn’t pay him much attention, he’s too focused on his laptop, “Hey Jay, you’re back early.”

Jason fully steps into his room, he shrugs “Yeah apparently they didn’t need me as much as they thought.” There’s a pause before he’s asking, “You been in here the entire time?”

_Time to lie_. “Yeah, just been binge watching this,” he turns his laptop around to show Jason before righting it again.

Jason considers him for a moment before saying, “Fair enough. Oh, the next episode will really have you sky high if you’re interested in that. You’ll be fuming.” He laughs out.

Tim frowns and pauses the episode, “You’ve seen it?”

“Yeah, I’ve watched the whole series.”

“Oh.”  

“Hey,” Tim looks away from the paused picture to his brother, “Let me go and have a shower, then we’ll watch a few episodes together. I wouldn’t mind a little recap and I especially want to see your reaction to the next episode.”

Tim smiles at himself relaxing at the offer, “Sure. I’ll finish this current one while waiting for you.”

“Sure thing Baby Bird, be back in a bit.” Jason says now leaving his room.

When Tim’s sure that he’s gone to his own room and turned on the shower Tim grins almost evilly to himself, _mission accomplished._  

* * *

Another month flies by and Tim meets up with Conner (or Kon as he’s now started calling him) another three times in those four weeks. Those three times have all followed the same routine as the first time he snuck out, everyone out for the day and not due until the evening and Kon picking him up from the Manor.

The three times they’ve met up they’ve done something different each time, the second was a lunch date (well Tim is still unclear on whether he should call them dates or not but he’s going to just for himself) the third was a movie and the forth was a trip to the fair.

By now Tim knew he was really pushing his luck with it all. His family, to his knowledge, still haven’t worked out what he’s been up to yet. Thankfully every time they’ve met up nothing has gone horribly wrong. Tim still hasn’t told him about his medical condition as he’s still unsure on how to tell the other teen what’s wrong with him. But from their meet ups Tim’s beginning to think that it doesn’t really matter if Kon knows or not. It hasn’t mattered so far, so why will it now?

Surprise, surprise, Tim was texting Conner again on Monday evening. They’ve been chatting for a couple hours now just talking about nonsense and having meme wars with one another. But when Kon’s most recent message comes through Tim frowns.

_Right so my friend is having a party this Saturday and I was wondering if you wanted to come with me, I want you to meet some of my friends from school._

Tim gets a bad feeling from his text. A party? Like an actual teenage party? Tim’s never been to one of those, never even been invited to one besides the one Conner asked him when they first met and he refused to go. There’s something inside him egging him on to say yes but on the other hand the other side of him is telling him that it’s a bad idea. It’s like having an angel and the devil on his shoulders.

Saturday, this Saturday. Tim thinks about it for a moment and realises that yes he could actually sneak out of the Manor and go. There’s a charity gala on that Bruce has been invited to, Alfred is doing the catering for it, Dick will be over in Bludhaven, Jason may be around but he has a feeling he’s going to skip and goes to Roy’s and Damian will have no choice but to go with Bruce.

Tim could stay home. Perhaps he could fake an illness or something.

He messages Kon back, _Okay sure, why not,_ despite most things inside of him screaming that it’s a bad idea.

Conner is quick to reply, _Awesome, shall I pick you up? How about around 7?_

Tim winces when he reads the text. If he remembers correctly the charity gala doesn’t start until 7:30, so his family will be leaving for the function round 7. If he’s going to do this he needs time to get ready and to make sure that his family are well out of the way before he goes. In the end he texts Kon back with, _Can you make it 8, got to have family dinner and all that jazz first._

Conner sends him back a GIF of someone looking bored before they suddenly burst out laughing. Tim’s unamused with that response and sends one back showing two middle fingers. The next message is just laughing crying emojis and, _Sure sure, I’ll pick you up after you’ve had your family dinner your highness._

Realising the time, Tim decides to wrap up his conversation with Kon for the night. He doesn’t want to but it’s getting late and he knows Kon has school tomorrow which he has to get up for and Tim doesn’t want to keep him up for half of the night. He’d done that once and then Kon told him he ended up getting a detention for being an hour late because he over slept. Tim felt bad and promised he wouldn’t do that again.

_Thanks, see you Saturday I guess._

_Yeah, though don’t forget on Thursday we’re skyping._

_Oh yeah, thanks for the reminder. Night._

_Night Tim._

* * *

After Monday the week just drags for Tim. Everyday seems to be going incredibly slow and it’s driving Tim mad. He easily completes any work his private tutors give him and he breezes through stuff to do with WE.

Of course he knows that the weeks just going slow because he’s got something planned for Saturday. As the weekend draws closer Tim gets more excited but at the same time more anxious. The bad feeling inside still hasn’t disappeared but the feeling is over ruled by the excitement of getting to see Kon.

Saturday soon arrives and apparently luck is still on his side because his adoptive father allows him to skip the charity gala. While Damian complains that it’s unfair that he has to go and Tim doesn’t, Bruce simply tells him to take it easy for the right and to get some rest. _Only if he really knew_ , Tim thinks to himself.

When 7 o’clock comes around Tim watches from the stairs as both Damian and Bruce get ready to leave for the gala. As predicted Jason has gone over to Roy’s who lives in Star city, Dick’s working in Bludhaven and Alfred’s already at the gala setting up the beverages.

He sits on the stairs in his casual clothes as Bruce and Damian are all dolled up in expensive, tailored suits. Damian often sends him glares and makes comments about how it’s unfair that he has to go. Tim just smiles at him and comments about how much he looks like a big boy in his suit. That’s when Bruce decides that it’s time for them to leave, probably wise because by now Damian looks one step away from murdering Tim. Tim’s not bothered by it, he thinks it’s hilarious.

As soon as they’re out of the door Tim rushes up the stairs to his room to get himself ready. He showers before putting on the outfit he had chosen earlier in the week, just a simple red shirt and black jeans, he’ll be wearing his vans with it. (He totally did not search up what people wear to teenage parties, no at all because that’s ridiculous.)

By the time he was done with his hair and was completely ready it was just before quarter to meaning he still has to hover around for another 15 minutes until Conner arrives. Tim spends the time pacing the corridors and clock watching. When it gets to 5 minutes to he decides to go and wait for him outside on the steps.

Soon enough Conner arrives and Tim greets him as he climbs into the vehicle. They smile and laugh as they share jokes and banter back and forwards. From the corner of his eye Tim checks Conner out to find the teen in a plain black t-shirt, an unbuttoned red shirt over the top and nice fitting denim jeans. In his mind Tim approves of his outfit a lot, however it does make him conscious of what he’s got on and wonder what Kon thinks of it.

Soon enough they pull up to a house within the city where there was music blasting from inside and people everywhere. It overwhelms Tim immediately. Seeing it on the TV is nothing compared to seeing it in real life. He’s reluctant to get out of the car but he pushes himself to when Kon gives him a funny look and asks if he’s alright.

The two of them make their way into the house and Tim does his very best to avoid touching everyone which seems impossible considering the insane amount of people that was there. He’s been to parties before but those were snotty rich ass parties where everyone drinks from a fine wine glass and dressed to the nines, this was the complete opposite.

He tries to stick close to Conner simply because he doesn’t know anyone. It may be freaking him out slightly. His brothers weren’t there to get him out of trouble, literally anything could happen and he doesn’t know anyone. Tim’s starting to very much regret saying yes now. That is until Kon turns around to him, flashes him a perfect white teeth smile and says, “Come on, my friends are this way.”

Then he does something that has Tim’s brain short circuiting; he grabs his hand. Kon grabs his hand and drags him through the party to find his friends. Tim only stares at their joined hands right up until introductions with Kon’s friends. He recognises them both as Cassie and Bart, he knows that because Kon talks about them a lot and he’s seen hundreds of photos. Tim smiles at them and talks to them, he’s kind of happy that he finally gets to meet Kon’s friends in person now. As he talks to them he sees why Kon likes them, they’re nice people.

As the night goes on Tim finds himself enjoying it. Of course he was paranoid all the time, constantly checking his phone and constantly avoiding bumping into people, but overall it was fun. A few times Conner had wondered off to greet more friends or get food and left Tim alone but he always made sure that he was with either Cassie or Bart if Kon did leave.

The party was going smoothly right up until around midnight. Tim boils it down to being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He, Conner and Bart were in the kitchen snacking on chips when next to them a fight started to break out between a few teens. At first it was just shouting and swearing, then it moved to pushing and shoving, next came the punches and the actual fighting.

The three of them shared a look at each other when the teen were just arguing, they moved away from them when they started pushing and shoving, but unfortunately they couldn’t exit the room like they wanted to because by that time the teens had attracted a crowd and all potential exits were blocked.

As the fight continued more people got involved and soon enough it became an ugly brawl. Glasses were smashed, cabinets were broke, food and drink was being chucked everywhere. Tim was desperate to get away but he couldn’t get past the wall of chanting and cheering teenagers behind him. He could feel his panic rising up the longer the fight went on and when the chanting and cheering got louder.

It all quickly became a blur then, something collided into his side which caused him to lose his balance and fall to the floor. Something else landed on him with caused the breath to be knocked out of him, at the same time of that happening he could feel sharp stinging coming from his arms. Trying to ignore the stinging he squirms underneath the weight pressing him down to the floor.

Eventually he works himself free and instantly starts trying to get his breath back. He sits up right and looks around to find three other people on the floor wrestling each other. Tim scrambles backwords away from them. He stops when he bumps into legs, craning his neck upwards he looks to find that he bumped into Conner.

“Tim!”

“Conner!”

Conner crouches down and looks at him with wide eyes, “Are you okay – oh my god you’re bleeding!”

Tim blinks at him before looking down at his body to see what he was on about, before he could register anything Conner was standing up and dragging Tim up with him. He had him hold by the underarms and started to drag him away from the kitchen. Somehow Conner had managed to get them through the wall of teens and into an empty living room, he placed Tim down on a sofa and disappeared before Tim could question him.

Tim glances down at his body to find what Conner was on about. When he does his breath catches in his throat and panic over takes his body. His arms, more specifically his right arm, were covered in bits of glass. Tim could see all the places where the glass has cut his skin and where he’s started to bleed. One particular nasty gash on his right arm looked deep and was already oozing out blood, he’s pretty sure that there’s glass in there to.

Looking at his wounds Tim immediately knew he’d need to go hospital, especially for that gash in his right arm. He couldn’t take any chances considering his condition. He was lucky that he only suffered with mild haemophilia but this was enough of a concern for a hospital trip.

Sudden anger replaces the panic inside of him. How could he have been so stupid. He had a feeling that coming here would be a bad idea and dammit this was the result. Oh god what’s Bruce going to say, or any of his siblings! There goes his teenage life, at least it was fun while it lasted.

Conner comes back with two towels and wraps the around his arms, taking extra caution when wrapping his right. Tim looks up at his beautiful face, “Conner I need to go to the hospital.”

Conner startles and looks at him with wide eyes, “Hospital? You sure?”

Tim reaches forward and grabs his hand, giving it a squeeze, he says, “Yes, trust me, I need to go to the hospital.”

Conner pauses and pins him with an intense look, in that moment Tim really wanted to just lean forward and kiss him. Despite what was going on he really wanted to kiss Kon.

After a minute of just staring at each other Kon breaks eye contact and awkwardly clears his throat, “So uh hospital?”

Tim shakes himself out of the trance he had fallen into, “Uh yeah hospital.” He confirms. Together they go to Conner’s car and get going.

The ride is silent and Tim is stuck in between thinking about his throbbing arms and the idea of kissing Kon. They soon arrive at the hospital and Tim has to blink away the cloud that seems to have covered his mind. The door was opening up next to him and Conner was there unbuckling his seat belt. Using gentle but firm administrations he manoeuvres Tim out of the car and across the car park to the building.

They go up to the desk where there was a receptionist typing away on a computer. “He needs to see a doctor.” Kon tells her.

She looks up and studies them before moving to get a bit of paper and a pen, “Okay what are your names and what’s wrong?”

Tim shakes his head, “No. Is Dr Thompkins around?”

The receptionist blinks at him, taken back by the question, “She’s currently on break.”

“Tell her it’s Tim. She’ll see me.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

Tim growls at her, “Look my name is Tim Wayne, I’m the son of Bruce Wayne and Dr Thompkins is my doctor. I need to see her.”

The woman stares at him before telling one of her companions to get Thompkins. She looks back at them, “She’s on her way if you’d like to take a seat.”

The two of them move over to the seats and Tim can feel Conner’s stare on him. Tim doesn’t take any notice, he’s not in the mood. His arms were sore and the towels wrapped around them were nearly soaked through with blood, (the right one was a lot worse.)

Time fades away as they wait but soon enough Tim’s family doctor was in front of him.

“Tim? What’s happened?” She asks as she gently takes his arms and Tim allows her to unravel the towels. “Tim…”

He swallows thickly “I know. It was stupid of me. They don’t know.”

She nods completely understanding what he meant while Conner sat beside him looking baffled as ever. The doctor takes a moment to study his arms, she looks at him with a frown, “Tim it looks like there’s glass within the wound and in order to get it out I’m going to have to perform surgery and given your…” she spares Conner a glance before continuing, “condition we’re going to have to take extra precaution.”

Tim ignores Conner’s exclamation at the word condition, he keeps his focus on the doctor and not what could be going through Conner’s head at this time. He nods to her, “Do whatever.”

“Condition? Tim what does she mean by condition, what’s wrong?”

Tim and the doctor ignore him. “Let’s go to a room and set everything up, but I can’t perform anything without Bruce’s consent because of your age.”

Tim feels dread enter his stomach at the mention of his adoptive father, he swallows thickly, “Of course.”

Still not paying much attention to the other teen they make their way through the hospital into a room. Tim absently sits on the bed while the doc goes about getting everything ready, Conner just stands by hovering unsure on what to do and how to take in the situation at hand. Tim feels bad for him and he knows Conner’s probably got a sack full of questions he wants answering but he just isn’t feeling up for explaining what’s going on to him right now. Once everything has blown over he’ll take the time to talk to him.

The next half hour was completely mind boggling to Tim. Bruce had turned up with Damian, still dressed in their suits from the gala, his adoptive father was not impressed to find him lying on a hospital bed. After a few glares sent in Conner’s direction Bruce gave his consent for the surgery to go on. Tim was then whisked away so they could operate on his arm and fix it up.

When Tim woke up it was the next morning. His head was hazy from the lingering affects of the drugs they used to knock him out so it took a little while to register everything. Once his mind had cleared up enough he looks around to find Bruce sat next to his bed, his father was still in his suit from the previous night and he looked worn out.

“Tim?”

“Hey Bruce.” God his throat felt dry.

Somehow Bruce seemed to know what he was thinking because he was there gently pushing a cup of water into his hand for him to sip from. Tim drinks a bit before putting it to the side, the fresh water soothing his throat.

He hears Bruce let out a deep sigh, “Tim, I know you’ve just woken up but I have to know why. I found out from your friend what happened last night, but not only did I find out that you snuck out to a party but I also found out that you’ve been sneaking out of the house to meet with this boy multiple times over the last couple of months. Tim what’s going on?”

Tim winces at what he’s saying, this was very much something he desperately wanted to avoid. He also hates how calm his dad is being, Tim would rather him just be angry and yell at him rather than this calm and collected persona.

“Bruce look, I didn’t mean for it to go this far. What happened last night was stupid and I knew I was pushing my luck going to that party, I had a bad feeling before I went to it.”

“Then why did you go?”

Tim refuses to look at him, instead he focuses on the bandage now covering his right arm, “I went because I wanted to experience it. The whole reason I had been sneaking out these past couple of months was because I wanted to be a normal teenager.” He risks a glance at the man before looking away again, “Look, I don’t mean to be offensive and I appreciate everything you do for me but meeting Conner made me realise how much of a prisoner I was in my own life. I just wanted to live a normal life and not to be hidden away where I couldn’t get hurt, I wanted to have my own independence where I don’t have one of my siblings chaperoning me everywhere I go. I wanted to experience what normal teens do on a day to day basis.”

When Bruce doesn’t say anything Tim looks at him to find the man studying him. Tim figures that he’s weighing up what he had said, trying to make sense of why his son would go behind his back like that.

“Why didn’t you come and speak to me about this Tim?”

Tim shakes his head and feels himself welling up, he blinks hard to stop any tears from breaking free, “Because you wouldn’t have understood Bruce.”

His dad opens his mouth to speak but it seems like he re-thinks it and closes his mouth again. Tim wipes his eyes from where a few tears had gotten free. Bruce’s hand appears over his own, “Tim, I’m not happy about what you’ve been doing and we will be having a talk about it later on, as for last night that was extremely careless of you even as your injury wasn’t on purpose -”

Tim cuts him off, “It’s not too bad, with my condition it would have been worse if I had internal bleeding.”

Bruce rolls his eyes, “Thank goodness for small miracles, but seriously Tim. You could have been seriously hurt, thankfully you thought on your feet and came straight here but next time you may not be so lucky.”

“I know,” Tim nods, “Trust me when I say that’s not happening again.”

“Good.”

His dad lets go of his hand and stands up. Tim allows him to stretch before he asks, “Hey where is Conner? Also what about Damian, he was with you last night.”

“Damian I sent home, Alfred came and picked him up while you were sleeping. As for your friend well we couldn’t convince him to leave, he was determined to stay here until he spoke to you and knew you were alright.”

Tim couldn’t fight the smile that stretched his lips and even the blush that appeared on his cheeks. Did Conner really stay all night for him?

“Can I see him?” Tim asks his dad. Bruce gives him a calculating look and for a moment Tim was convinced that he was going to say no, but eventually he nods and moves towards the door. Bruce pops his head out and in a matter of seconds the teen he’s been crushing on enters the room and is headed straight for him.

Before Tim could say anything Conner was crushing him in a hug, “Oh my god, don’t ever do that to me again! Are you okay? They wouldn’t really tell me anything and by the way your dad is actually terrifying, I thought I was going to shit my pants when he was talking to me earlier, or shall I say interrogating because seriously that man-”

“Conner!” Tim interrupts his babbling session, “I’m okay. Really I’m fine.”

Conner moves out of the hug but doesn’t let go of him. Tim moves his left hand and grabs one of Conner’s and squeezes it in reassurance, Conner squeezes it back and the two of them share a smile. Now getting a look at him Tim can see that Conner is still in the same clothes he wore to the party and he looked like he hadn’t slept at all. Despite his kind of rugged look the desire to kiss him was back, probably stronger than before.

But he doesn’t, Tim gets a hold of himself and looks away from his face down to their joined hands, “I bet you’re after some answers.” He says.

Conner squeezes his hand again, “Some answers would be nice. Tim, what’s going on, what is it?”

Tim takes a deep breath before he starts explaining everything. He tells Conner everything and doesn’t leave a single detail out. He tells him about his condition of having haemophilia, he tells him about always being kept home or having one of his siblings as a chaperone, he tells him about his feelings of being stuck in the Manor and he tells him about how free Conner made him feel.

Conner sits there and patiently listens to him talk, absorbing everything in. The entire time he keeps hold of Tim’s hand and rubs a thumb across his knuckles. A few times Tim had been distracted by the motion but he tries to not think too much about it.

When he finishes talking he looks at Conner trying to work out what the teen was thinking. After a while Conner finally huffs out a laugh, “You know, you telling me all this actually explains some of your behaviour.” At Tim’s look he laughs again, “Seriously dude, your paranoia when we’ve been out, you’re early curfews, the reason your home schooled, it’s nice to know that you weren’t rejecting me at the start because you simply didn’t want to meet up.”

Tim couldn’t help laugh at how ridiculous it all was. He looks back up and meet Conner’s eyes again and this time he indulges his urge to kiss the other teen. Since he doesn’t have any experience in this area Tim’s hoping the inaccurate details of movies will some how help him through this. Much to his delight it seemed like Conner had the same idea so when Tim leaned towards the other teen Conner leaned the rest of the way and they met halfway.

He wasn’t sure what he was expecting but he knows he wasn’t expecting Conner’s lips to be soft and warm. He doesn’t really have a clue in what he’s doing so he lets Conner lead them as their lips slide against each other’s and as their noses gently bump together.  

After a while they break apart and Tim couldn’t stop smiling, right next to him he knows that Conner is also smiling, “God I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time.” Tim looks at him with wide eyes in disbelief. Conner grins and presses a quick peck on his lips, “Yeah, definitely wanted to do that.”

Tim blinks at him before reaching out and pulling him back in with the confidence he didn’t have just a moment ago. He knows he’s in shit later on, both with Bruce and his brothers for what has happened and how he put himself at risk, but at the end of the day if he gets to have Conner then everything that has happened was definitely worth it. 


End file.
